Setting Sail
Eldred’s first auction on Nantucket Island features an array of maritime artwork
July 13, 1 p.m.
Eldred’s Nantucket Boys & Girls Club 61 Sparks Avenue Nantucket, MA 02554 t: (508) 385-3116 www.eldreds.com
On July 13, Eldred’s will host its inaugural auction on Nantucket Island featuring 200 lots of paintings, jewelry, fine furniture and other decorative arts. The sale, which is highlighted by maritime pieces, will take place at the Nantucket Boys & Girls Club and see a percentage of proceeds going to the Nantucket Preservation Trust. Eldred’s is located in East Dennis, Massachusetts, just across from the island on Cape Cod, so they believe this sale is a natural fit for their firm. “It’s a local expansion for us, both geographically and in terms of the material we handle,” says Joshua Eldred, president of the company. “Nantucket was once the whaling capital of the world and is still very connected to its maritime history, and Eldred’s is the nation’s leading maritime art auction house. Over the past several years, clients—both buyers and sellers—have approached us about hosting an auction on-island and once we established a charitable partnership with Nantucket Preservation Trust, it made sense to move forward.”
Leading the auction is a stormy skied boating scene by James Edward Buttersworth, who is considered by many to be the foremost artist of the genre.the painting, Cornelia and
Magic Rounding Buoy 8½, depicts two Newyorkyacht Club vessels in the artist’s meticulously detailed hand. It is expected to sell between $250,000 and $350,000.
Several other boat paintings are expected to make waves in the auction, including John Mecray’s yachting race Westward vs. Britannia (est. $80/120,000) and the contemporary work Island Steamboat Nantucket, by William R. Davis, that has a presale estimate of $30,000 to $50,000. Additional seaside scenes in the sale
include Francis Seth (Shedd) Frost’s Siasconset Beach – Nantucket and Robert Salmon’s The Harbor, Mary Port at Cumbria. Each painting has an estimate of $25,000 to $35,000.
Nantucket – The Ladies Village Improvement Society by Ralph Eugene Cahoon Jr. is also crossing the block during the sale.the whimsical work, depicting women knitting and drinking tea, was purchased at the artist’s second exhibition at Nantucket’s Lobster Pot Gallery in the summer of 1960. It has been exhibited at Cahoon Museum of American Art in Cotuit, Massachusetts. “We curated this auction to include paintings by some of the nation’s finest living artists as well as exceptional 19thcentury works that fit the Nantucket lifestyle,” says Eldred.“it’s a diverse, well-rounded selection that will appeal to a variety of art collectors.”